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It was marketed like a miracle and Western media went along with it. On Nov. 20, after negotiations stretching longer than many of us feared, the historic Loss and Damage Fund was announced at COP27. Finally, it was claimed, rich nations would pay the global victims of their irresponsible industrialization the reparations they deserved.
But the so-called breakthrough, a "new dawn for climate justice," is not what it seems. Yes, the grand proclamation underscores an intention to establish a Loss and Damage Fund—but only that. Meaningful justice means transparency, accountability, and fairness. The Loss and Damage Fund, however, offers none.
We have little idea who will pay, or how those amounts will be determined, or how frequently payments will be made, or what happens if payments aren't delivered. The United States, for example, conditioned its participation on clear red lines. Even the language of "liability" and "compensation" was avoided.
In its current form, the Loss and Damage Fund leaves Africa and the Global South worse off. Rich nations can claim they have met their obligations without even a superficial mechanism in place for ensuring as much. The consequences, as analysts have noted, are as disappointing as they are unsurprising.
The Fund may be wholly ineffective. Somehow the world's biggest carbon polluter, China, is not required to contribute. Even rosier scenarios predict developing nations could wait years to access the Fund—years that, thanks to climate change, we don't have.
Meanwhile Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world. West Africans are already suffering the consequences.
An undeniable link can be drawn between escalating civil conflict and climate change, destabilizing the region. Up to 32 million West Africans could be dislocated by the climate crisis. Sub-Saharan Africa needs up to $50 billion a year to finance climate adaptation.
And we are expected to suffice with a PR stunt? A clever mechanism to blunt the disappointment engendered by the West's inaction at Sharm El Sheikh. Tragically, it seems to have worked, once again allowing the West to present itself as the world's savior.
But how can one be a hero for claiming to solve problems one himself caused?
We Africans refuse to be victims yet again. We do not principally drive climate change—and cannot be made to pay for it again and again.
We must build relationships and tap the resources that can help us survive what's coming—even as we work to push the world's richest nations to meet their obligations to us. That begins with faith, especially the powerful role faith plays in West Africa. Whether Christian or Muslim, more and more religious leaders share a commitment to the environment.
These leaders can be a resource to compensate—not adequately, of course, but still significantly—for the inequities the world imposes on us. Working to build solidarity across societies also helps Gambia and the Global South more effectively advocate in future international forums (like COP27). That is why I worked to bring the Faith and Climate Forum to Gambia.
Hosted by Faith For Our Planet, a global interfaith climate coalition, the Forum will empower Gambian, West African and Global South religious leaders with vital skills. I am honored to welcome these leaders, of course, but more excited by the opportunity to train them in climate advocacy, to help them build climate consciousness in their communities. And pursue long-awaited climate justice for the Global South.
The worldwide implications of Faith For Our Planet are part of the appeal. Although the international community failed us at COP27, that does not mean we lack partners. It might surprise many in the West that the world's largest Islamic non-governmental organization, the Muslim World League, and its Secretary-General, Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, took the lead in convening the interfaith coalition.
They recognize that our obligation to the planet is a sacred calling. And like any sacred calling, it is meant to uplift and empower. For West Africans and many across the Global South, faith is fundamental. But that must be an inclusive and proactive faith. Our aim is not and has never been zero-sum. Religious networks can advance moral causes like climate justice and strengthen moral responses like climate resilience.
We in Gambia might not be on the top of the Global North's agenda yet. But we in Gambia have a history of elevating causes the West might have otherwise considered marginal. The more the Global South works together, the more we will be able to encourage the Global North to make the changes it has long avoided.
Because climate change is a global problem. Pretending otherwise doesn't make it any less so.
Abdoulie Ceesay is the deputy majority leader of the National Assembly of Gambia. As a member of Parliament, he serves on committees for education, trade, youth, human rights, and constitutional matters. Ceesay is also a member of Gambia's delegation to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states—for the EU Parliamentary Assembly. He is also the founder of the Help Foundation Gambia, a charitable organization.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
